Nba

Knicks feel they were outworked in loss By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony promised adjustments, and he knows where they start. The New York Knicks felt they were outworked even more than outplayed in a 102-95 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday that put them in a 1-0 hole in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"You take out the Xs and Os of the game, they just flat-out played harder than we did today," Anthony said.

David West scored 20 points and Paul George added 19 for the Pacers, who outrebounded the Knicks 44-30, showing the smaller team that in the rugged East, size does matter.

"I thought guys did a good job just putting them on their heels," West said. "We were attacking, we were aggressive."

Beaten on the boards and beaten to loose balls, the Knicks gave away home-court advantage they fought all season to secure and will have to hope for a split in Game 2 on Tuesday.

"We shouldn't have a problem getting up for a playoff game. For whatever reason, that's the way it looked," center Tyson Chandler said. "They got the best of us tonight."

D.J. Augustin had 16 points for the Pacers, who built a 16-point lead while Anthony was on the bench in foul trouble in the third quarter, and easily held on to spoil the Knicks' first second-round game since 2000.

Anthony finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds, but was frustrated by the Pacers' tough defense and by the referees. He shot 10 of 28 from the field and was perhaps thrown out of sync having to defend West, a natural power forward, inside.

"Right now they're just being really physical with him, they're trying to bang him, they're trying to frustrate him," Knicks point guard Raymond Felton said. "But we're going to be fine, he's going to be fine."

The Pacers, who allowed the second-fewest points per game and the lowest field goal percentage in the league during the regular season, mixed in solid offense as well. They outscored New York 59-38 across the middle two quarters and were comfortably ahead throughout the fourth.

"Just a strong defensive effort and then offensively guys played with great poise," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said.

Follow Us

Post a reader comment

We encourage your feedback and dialog. Please be civil and respectful.If you're witty, to the point and quotable, your reader comments may also be included on the Around the Towns page of The Sunday Republican. Readers must be registered and logged in to post comments on the site. Registration is free. Click Here to register.
A Subscription is not required to post comments only a Registration.